The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1887-07-07
On the State Debt,


j ~
tence there las been but one perfect beil
III human form, and He was not human.
| fully recognize the f0ibes and Weakne
ses OF men, and do not expect perfecti(
anywhere amongst them.
In what / am about to write. then, cor
corning the State debt THAT most trite al
hackneyeC OF subiectS) / shall set nothiu
down iii malice. 1t is not my purpose [
criminate any one, nor am | going to 50
Il told you so knew it would be fai
ure from The beginning, and warned 70
against it. No. nor am | writing fC
party advantage, either ; and, except in S
far as telling the truth may benefit my pal
ty and injure the democracy, | will sa
nothing Of party or party action. "Offer
ceS must come. but woe unCo him 10y Whor
the otfense cometh." Suffice it to say tina
from 1869 to 1879 the Democratic part
| las then constituted) had unlimited and al
most lanobstructed control of the State
affairs. 1t dominated in every department
OF the State government, and ruled as i
with rod Of iron. Whomsoever it Woul
! it put up, and when 1t said ''sit down.
there was no mistaking or questioning til
| command. For ten long and dreary year
this rule was as absolute and unbending a
| that Of the Gar of Russia.
| 1t Was under this rule that the fnndin.
| bill Of 1871, which has proven to have beef
very Pandora S box, had its origin ant
was brought into being. 1t was under thi
rule that that other ingenious and owe
reaching fraud, the Mccullough or Bro
ker'S bill was conceived and brought forth
and monster though it proved to be, it was
tor time, the tutillary deitysof the demo
cracy, under whose guardianship the State
was TO prosper as never State prospered
before and anatnema marenatha be upon
him who should dare to uncover to the
gaze OF the world this eXecrable monster
NO fair minded man in the State will
doubt that by every lule of right interpre.
tatlon, that party is responsible for all the
consequences resulting from this rule
which, as | have said, was almost absolute
AND, after all these years of trial and eX-
pertinent, can any one longer doubt tie
utter inability OF This party to deal with
the intricate problems thrust upon our peo-
pie by the result Of the war, the acts of recon
structi0n and the rehabltition of the Stat e
under these acts? Whether from mental in
capacity OF perVersion OF intellect, super
Induced by prejudice or wounded vanity,
the results are the same-failure to com
prehend the situation, or. comprehending
it, to take advantage of the circumstances
OF our position. This fact is probably most
conspicuously apparent III its various at
tempts to settle 1.-THE State debt. Begin
ming under the restored" government of
Virginia, which never restored, and run
ming through all the long years from 1869
to 1873, WAS there ever before such sue.
cession of farces enacted by any people ?
The Funding bill was enacted in 1871.
From that time forth. for ten years. to any
one lot totally blinded by party, not infat
uated indeed by d single idea-and that of
the bitterest hate-it must have been per-
fectly apparent that unless by some mira
Gle IN state affairs IA thing which never
happens under Democratic rule) the State
was drifting into certain and inevitable
bankruptcy. Under this party blight-this
SirocGa OF craftsmanship nOtWith-
standing the fact that the school fund, the
asylum and other eleemosynary lnstitu-
tions were being robbed for the benefit of
Il class, the State was becoming hopelessly
insolvent at the rate of more than mil
lion of dollars annually. Nero fiddled
whilst Rome was burning and. yet, whilst
this momentous and, as one would suppose
startling fact, was staring US full in the
lace, the part1Zan puppets were constantly
repeating their claim to all the ''honor and
honesty" OF the people. OF sentimentali-
ties we surely have had our fill to over
flowing. One single word OF sober truth
would haze been worth more to the people
than millions of such trashy sentimenvaii-
ties and promises against reason. And
bye and bye that word was spoken. For
tunately for the State there were those
among us who were not, thus blinded, and
who clearly saw the inevitable ruin that
WAS before us if we persisted longer in the
attempt to do that which experience had
taught us could not be done, and with more
than Spartan bravery, set themselves about
the work OF reform and reimbursement. 1t
IS useless to state here how these brave and
true men, who had dared to strike this idol
of iron rule. were characterized by their
held up, indeed, to the scorn
and contempt of their fellow citizens, and
denounced as no "better than thieves and
robbers" al this has passed in
to history, and is alluded to here in no of
fenslve sense, and only to point a moral
Of course such q condition of things as |
have been attempting to depict. could not
to last forever, and in 1873 the
Read uster-R epublicans came into power,
and at once proceeded to readjust and set
lie the debt, which they did in accordance
with the facts, honestly and fairly made
)ut, and succeeded in so far as to have two
decisions OF the Supreme Court in support
IF the c0nstitutionality and suf1iciency of
heir plan of settlement. And there was
life and light III the old State. But, in an
evil hou:, through influences the most dis
:reditable and actions the most foul, the
State again, in 1888. passed into the hands
If the party which had before come SO far
short Of its duty, and entailed upon the |
State such grievous burdens aud, learn
ng nothing from experience, it immedi-
ltely proceeded to NEEDLE with that which |
t is now perfectly apparent they did not |
or. if understanding, Wilfully |
reverted The consequences are before |
IS, and was there ever before such a mud |
lie in the affairs of any State? ''Uonfus- |
Oh worse cOnf0unded" And, to shield |
lie purity from its perilous position brought |
bout by its ineXcusable blunders. it has |!
attempted to make scape goat Of the SUI |
IRENE Court land the District and Circuit |
ndges) /; and these august parties have |
;ome in for a round share Of abuse for their |
in daring to interpret the law.
nd Howler, Growler, Ringwood and |
'pOt, and thousand and one of the small |
er purps have howled themselves hoarse |
rying to direct attention from their own |
ulpable ignorance and wrong doing. But |
he people have been looking on and tax
ng notes, and bye and bye will have their |
ay. And / am pleased also to be able to |
ay the Supreme Court still survives.
Oh. but we must Inconsistent. We have |
lodged ourselves to a certain thing, and |
hat thing we must perform 1o1eus. |
Now, what is consistency? To do that |
'hich is the wisest thing to be done to-cay |
nd now, under existing circumstances,
S we know them to exist.
For sixteen years we have been expert |
aenting with debt settlements. Are we |
ny nearer the solution of the trouble now |
han we were sixteen yearsago For half |
generation we have had this question of |
ebt settlement up for consideration, and |
t is now universally acknowledged to be |
n worse muddle than it was the fir day |
was brought into the political arena. 1t |
would indeed seem now that we have the |
irritable "0ld man of the sea- on our
'acks. Is he to ride there forever
When this question was first brought be-
ore the Legislature Of '69-71, the writer,
hen member OF the House Of Delegates, |
oreseeing, as he thought, the trouble that |
would follow, were this bill to become law,
1t that session in three several conferen es
With the special patrons of the bill in the !
House, urged him with all the earnestness |
le could command, not to persist in the
passage OF the bill at that session, and for !
hree reasons First, that we had not been |
elected with any such object in view sec
)ndly, because we had not the data to pre- !
licate proper bill upon and, lastly, that |
[ we did proceed to act on matter so |